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  1. #11
    Members bsfman's Avatar
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    Re: cultivating BSFL for feed

    Quote Originally Posted by urbanfarmer
    I am looking forward to making use of this synergy as well. I just finished filling a 5 gallon buck with week old rabbit poop. It was covered in house flies withing minutes, but since I have other bins in the yard with BSF I assume they will be making a visit shortly!
    If you salt the bucket of rabbit poop with a couple of handfuls of larvae from your other bin, it will attract egglaying adult BSF a lot faster than just letting them find it on their own. The larvae excrete a chemical attractant quite tantalizing to adult egglaying females.

  2. #12
    Moderator urbanfarmer's Avatar
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    Re: cultivating BSFL for feed

    Quote Originally Posted by bsfman
    Quote Originally Posted by urbanfarmer
    I am looking forward to making use of this synergy as well. I just finished filling a 5 gallon buck with week old rabbit poop. It was covered in house flies withing minutes, but since I have other bins in the yard with BSF I assume they will be making a visit shortly!
    If you salt the bucket of rabbit poop with a couple of handfuls of larvae from your other bin, it will attract egglaying adult BSF a lot faster than just letting them find it on their own. The larvae excrete a chemical attractant quite tantalizing to adult egglaying females.
    10-4 good buddy. I will try it in the morning!

  3. #13
    Moderator davidstcldfl's Avatar
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    Re: cultivating BSFL for feed

    Quote Originally Posted by bsfman
    Somewhere, I have a sketch I will post (if I can find it) of an easy to build plywood bin that does a remarkable job of harvesting the larvae.
    Looking forward to seeing that bsfman...
    "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - President Ronald Reagan

  4. #14
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    Re: cultivating BSFL for feed

    Quote Originally Posted by davidstcldfl
    Looking forward to seeing that bsfman...
    Here's the completed bin and a rough sketch, davidstcldfl. I'll dig up some photos showing construction details and post them later. The dimensions are of course scalable to whatever size you choose. I raise them in massive quantities for commercial ventures and have two bins like this, a smaller home built bin, and a couple of commercially produced bins I ordered online. I have experimented with other designs as well but of all my bins, this is definitely the most effective. It features an open bottom for drainage and double crawl off ramps that funnel the larvae into collection buckets. I've made some mods on the lid and ramp design since these pics were taken, but this will give you a rough idea.




  5. #15
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    Re: cultivating BSFL for feed

    Oh gosh, now I've got to make one of these! I should never have signed on to "diyaquaponics, next it was vermiponics, now bsflponics, vermipomicomposting, precomposting, now a bsfl hatchery, my poor dogs are left with narrow pathways to poop in.
    Now how do you get the larva to go down this slip-n-slide?

  6. #16
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    Re: cultivating BSFL for feed

    Quote Originally Posted by rfeiller
    Now how do you get the larva to go down this slip-n-slide?
    When they reach pre-pupal stage (dark brown) their instinct is to crawl upwards. They just naturally crawl up the ramps, are funneled into a drop tube and harvest themselves. Here's a pic of some larvae doing just that in this bin...



    I also have a video showing the immature larvae in a smaller bin. You can see how easy it is to scoop them up to feed to the tilapia! These were swarming on the surface because they were heat stressed, but laying a piece of bread on the surface will have them swarming inches deep just beneath the slice in like ten minutes. I just grab 'em to feed by hand and throw them in a bucket!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6lLnzqt8wk

  7. #17
    Moderator davidstcldfl's Avatar
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    Re: cultivating BSFL for feed

    When you first started posting here, I wondered why you went by bsfman... ...

    Thanks bsfman... .
    The design of your large bin looks well thought out.. You mentioned the bottom is open...?....is there hardware cloth or something like it on the bottom ?
    "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - President Ronald Reagan

  8. #18
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    Re: cultivating BSFL for feed

    Amazing, up until recently I thought of bsfl as a pain in the behunkie! Marvelous, I think I can get my hands on some salvaged lumber!
    Do you raise white worms also? They really put size on small to medium fish as a supplement to their diet. Not loaded with pathogens like tubifecids, and blood worms.

  9. #19
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    Re: cultivating BSFL for feed

    Quote Originally Posted by davidstcldfl
    You mentioned the bottom is open...?....is there hardware cloth or something like it on the bottom ?
    The bottom is entirely open. It rests on the ground. I sometimes shovel an inch or so of soil inside before starting up the bin just to seal off any voids between the bottom edge of the bin opening and surface of the ground. The problem most bins have that are designed to drain thru a filter into an effluent collection container is that the filter inevitably becomes clogged, the bottom layer of the bin gets soggy and anaerobic and then you have a stinky, vile mess on your hands when you shovel out the residue to use for worm food or compost. The open bottom solves that. You could add a hardware cloth screen if you felt it necessary, but I've had no problems without one. I have never had any issues with mice or moles or anything entering the bins. I find an occasional anole lizard or tree frog who has found his way inside thru the lid, but given the massive quantities of larvae in the bins, I don't begrudge them the few they may eat.

  10. #20
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    Re: cultivating BSFL for feed

    Quote Originally Posted by rfeiller
    Amazing, up until recently I thought of bsfl as a pain in the behunkie! Marvelous, I think I can get my hands on some salvaged lumber!
    Do you raise white worms also? They really put size on small to medium fish as a supplement to their diet. Not loaded with pathogens like tubifecids, and blood worms.
    Lots of worm farmers think of them as a "behunkie pain", but actually they are quite beneficial. They'll process any kind of food except high-cellulose items - including the stuff that's a no-no to feed worms. Think of them as a worm chow pre-processor! The worms thrive on the BSF poop. If you age the BSF residue so that any remaining larvae emerge before feeding it to your worms, you can greatly reduce the issue of BSF in your worm bins because the BSF will have pre-processed the food that otherwise would have attracted them to your worm bin.

    I've never tried raising white worms. Don't tempt me though! My wife will divorce me if she see's I've started another "weird hobby". (She's barely forgiven me for starting up this whole aquaponics thing.)

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